'You're so GAY'

Prologue

Only one school day lay ahead of me before we would break up for half term. 

I swung my backpack onto my shoulder as I grabbed my keys and Oyster card from my cluttered desk. I glanced over at my timetable which hung loosely next to my door. My first lesson was maths with Mr Lofts. I mentally groaned as my hatred for numbers filled my head. I unlocked my phone; it was 8:00 am.

'Mum, I'm going now. See you later.' I called to her, making my way to the front door. Before opening it I waited for her reply. 

'Alright Maria! Have a nice day.' She called back from where I assumed was the kitchen. Taking one more deep breath, I opened the door and stepped outside ready to face another day. 

**

'Maria! Hey gurl you took your time!' I paused my music and took out my earphones, grinning up at Yasmin. I reached her at the bus-stop and, as usual, she started talking. 

'Oh my gosh Maria! There's so much stuff I have to do for Eid 'cause it's like, in a couple of days and like I din't have time to buy stuff. I mean look at the homework we have! So mcuh! Oh! That reminds me did you do the English homework. I found it so hard 'cause like its Shakespeare innit so- And oh my gosh I din't do my physics homewrok!-' I let Yasmin ramble on as I desperately tried to keep track with what she was saying. I inwardly laughed as she changed the subject once more and lost me completely.Nevertheless,  I kept nodding and smiling when she asked me a question about one thing or another. 

At long last, the 73 bus arrived and Yasmin waved her hand at the driver, signalling him to stop where we were. The driver opened the doors and Yasmin entered, scanning her Oyster on the reader. I followed her steps until my eye caught the reflection of a girl running from the other side of the road aiming for this bus. Knowing how it felt to miss a bus, I decided to keep the bus waiting by leaving half my body out of the doors. The driver looked annoyed but I kept the position until the girl breathlessly reached us. I smiled at her as she said 'Thanks' whilst catching her breath. She entered the bus and scanned her card and I repeated her actions.

**

'So what's your name?' Yasmin, sociable as usual, started talking to the girl as soon as we sat down. 

'Nia' She replied shyly, smiling at her. Her cheeks formed dimples which made her look so cute. She noticed me staring and looked back at me, still smiling. Her eyes were light brown with hints of orange surrounding the pupil. 

'What are yours?' She asked back, her voice getting a bit more confdent. 

'I'm Yasmin. That's Maria.' Yasmin pointed at me and I nodded in her direction. 'You're names cool by the way. Where you from?'

'My dads nigerian, my mum's french and english.' Nia answered. I admired her skin tone, it was a light shade of brown which brought out her eyes even more. Her hair was up in a neat ponytail, her bushy hair at the end of the ponytail framed her face nicely. She was overall really pretty. She could have been one of those beautiful models in magazines. 

'How old are you Nia?' Yasmin asked looking at her up and down, probably finding her as pretty as I did. 

'16.' She locked her eyes with mine once again. I felt my cheeks flaring up a bit because of the way she observed me. 

'Oh cool!' Yasmin continued, 'So am I! Maria here is nearly 16 but she's 15 at the moment. Right Maria?' Yasmin looked over at me. I nodded my head slightly but kept eye contact with Nia. 

I could feel Yasmin looking at us weirdly. I didn't blame her. What were we doing? We were just staring at each other for no purpose. Her eyes were just so intriguing. I mentally shook my head and forced myself to look back at Yasmin. I smiled at her, feeling myself blush again. Her eyebrows were furrowed but it didn't take long for her to start a new conversation and forget about our awkward moment. 

By the end of the bus journey, when me and Yasmin had to get off, I had found out quite a lot about Nia. We hadn't seen her before on our bus because she just recently moved near where we live. She went to a private school a bit further away from me and Yasmin's state school. Her parent's both had very well-paid jobs. Her mother was a lawyer and her father was a doctor. She lived in one of those posh houses at the far end of our street and she was an only child. 

This was all found out thanks to Yasmin's very sociable skills, which I guess came in useful at times. 

Once off the bus, Yasmin and I started walking towards our school. 

'Nia seems nice!' She commented and I nodded approvingly. 

'Yeah, she's so pretty as well.' I added. Yasmin shrugged and nodded. 

'I guess, She's ok' She responded. I was surprised to hear that she didn't find her as pretty as I found her. I shrugged it off. 

'But oh my gosh! Did you see her trousers? She wears them too tightly. Like, that's so gay!' Yasmin giggled at her comment. Before I could reply she had started a new topic of conversation about her new Eid clothes and plans. 

If only she knew how ironic her comment had been.